How To Improve Your Grass

Some people go to extreme lengths to have the perfect coloured grass even spray-painting their lawn because it wasn’t green! In those warmer summer months conserving water is important and if that means sacrificing the colour of your lawn, is that something you are willing to do? Personally, I have no hatred for grass that doesn’t look perfectly green, it means that we might actually be getting some sun! It also reduces the need to cut the grass too and this is an added bonus when you are running out of time during the week to get everything completed. However, it is still important to care for your grass because you will want it to look good and grow healthily when the rain does come.

What You Need To Do To Improve Your Grass

Great quality grass is possible; you need to ensure that you are doing all that you can, to ensure it is healthy. Moss and other weeds can destroy grass, they can take over and you can end up with bare patches. If you have pets that use the grass to do their business then this too will have an effect on the grass, girl dogs will leave patches of brown grass after repeated uses in the same spot.

If you let your dog urinate on the grass, then you have to consider diluting their urine with water; it is a pain but it does prevent the brown spots, I am not talking about giving your dog’s more water, but actually applying the water directly onto their wee spots to preventing the damage.

I removed the grass from the area my dogs go to the bathroom, they now have stones on which to go and this allows for more free drainage and less damage.

You must get rid of the weeds and the moss from your lawn. Moss is easily removed from the grass with a rake; if the area is large, you might find that you have to re-seed the area because it has destroyed the grass underneath.

Some products that you can buy allow you to treat the grass and improve the quality, but I prefer to remove the weeds by hand and address the problem accordingly.

Air is important to great grass; if you have had a lot of rain or the ground’s compacted this will have an impact on the grass quality. I have an area that doesn’t do well, it is in the shade most of the day and when it rains it doesn’t like to drain properly. This has been a constant problem and no matter how much aerating I do, it doesn’t solve the problem, so therefore, I am making a drastic change in my gardening plan and I am going to remove this section of grass and have a shingle area instead, this will be free draining and hopefully allow the water to soak away.

Don’t Neglect Your Lawn Mower

If you are looking for the perfect lawn then you must ensure that you take care of the lawn mower too. If you are ripping your grass and not cutting it, this will have an effect on the look; sharp blades are essential for a clean-cut.

Some people like to leave the grass clippings on the lawn as they can break down and provide food to the grass; however, I am not one of those people, I dislike the look of cuttings sitting on the grass and these clippings go into the composter.

Drier Summer Months

If you dislike the brown colour of grass as it dries out in the summer months then it is important to decide if you need grass at all. While it is great, if it isn’t suited to your image of the perfect garden maybe it is time to change. There are options, some grasses do better than others in drier areas, you could contemplate fake grass, this does look better, and has improved in quality over the last few years. Alternatively, like me, remove sections of grass that just aren’t working for you, this is a better option than spraying your grass-green.

Therefore, it is time to make choices about your grass before it starts turning brown in the summer sun.

If you are looking for more articles on this topic head over to the landing page where you will find links to other posts on gardening.